Archive for November, 2009
Schedules get screwy during December, so here’s an update on school board and board of trustee meeting dates and times.
Bellingham: regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m. at the district office.
Blaine: work session (to start budget planning for the 2010-11 school year) Monday, Dec. 7 from 5:15 to 7:15 p.m. at the district office. Regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 17 at noon at the district office.
Ferndale: regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m. at the district office.
Lynden: Regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. at Lynden High School.
Meridian: regular meeting Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at Meridian Middle School.
Mount Baker: regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. at the district office.
Nooksack Valley: regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 17 at noon in the district office.
Western Washington University Board of Trustees: Thursday and Friday, Dec. 10 and 11. Meeting times and location TBA.
Whatcom Community College Board of Trustees: Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. in the Laidlaw Center Boardroom.
Western Washington University recently won the 2009 Green Cleaning Grand Award for Schools and Universities from the American School and University Magazine.
This is the top award given nationally in the category.
WWU’s Academic Custodial Services department has been “green” for the last six years. The department no longer uses or has petrochemical cleaning products and uses compostable trash liners.
The award will be featured in the December edition of the magazine.
Western Washington University students from Huxley College of the Environment recently swept first and second place titles at the Environmental Challenge in Cl Elum.
The competition required student teams to prepare and present a solution to a complex environmental problem.
WWU’s winners include:
1st place team – Derek Schruhl (Bremerton), Matt Ferguson (Visalia, CA), Matthew Moroney (Salt Lake City) and Reid Haefer (Olympia).
2nd place team – Doug Naftz (Park City, UT), Marissa Capito (Juneau, AK), Siobhan Sloan-Evans (Redmond) and Emily Duncanson (Redmond).
The first place team will attend the 2010 Environmental Challenge International meeting in Calgary.
It’s never too early to start the budgeting process!
The Blaine School Board will have a work session on Monday, Dec. 7 from 5:15 – 7:15 p.m. in the district office. Board members will be starting preliminary planning work on the 2010-11 school budget. The budget won’t be finalized until the summer.
There is a rumor running through town that the Bellingham School District has decided to close Whatcom Middle School. This rumor is false.
Investigators and insurance people haven’t had a chance to go into the building yet, meaning that the district doesn’t know the extent of the damage or what kinds of funding are available for rebuilding. However, district officials still say they are committed to the replacement of Whatcom Middle School. Ron Cowan, assistant superintendent of business and operations, has even made statements about rebuilding at the same site.
Until an evaluation of the building and cause of the fire is complete (which won’t be until around the new year) there will be no plan about the building. If the district rebuilds or renovates, which is what officials have stated is the goal, it will take at least a couple years. This means students and staff will be displaced for at least next school year, if not longer.
District officials are assessing the current student-teacher placements to see if the plan will work through the end of the school year. There are no plans yet for where students and staff will be after this school year.
There will be a story in Tuesday’s paper about this. The district has also put up a Whatcom Middle School Update page to address rumors and provide the latest information.
Whatcom Middle School student Roy Evans and his friends raised $1,880 last Saturday, Nov. 14 through a bake sale benefiting the WMS teachers.
That amount also includes a donation from Apple Yarns, the store his mom owns. Ten percent of all sales last Saturday went to the bake sale fund.
Way to go! There are still several fundraising opportunities out there to benefit the Whatcom Middle School teachers and students. Click here to see a list.
Western Washington University is offering a week-long course in Costa Rica this spring called “Tropical Eco-Farming and Sustainability in Costa Rica.”
The trip will be from March 20 through 29 and it’s open to the public. Participants will learn about reducing environmental impacts while producing enough food to keep up with demand.
Anyone interested in more information should attend one of the following information sessions:
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m. in Communications Facility room 225.
Thursday, Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m. at 405 32nd St. room 360.
Saturday, Dec. 5, 6:30 p.m. in Communications Facility room 225.
For more information, email eesp@wwu.edu or call 650-3308. Course details can be found here.
The Washington Policy Blog recently had an interesting posting about school funding. Click here to see the group’s idea.
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